Whilst Australian employers overwhelmingly prefer to employ local workers (as it is cheaper and faster), skilled migration continues to play a vital role in Australia’s economic policy. The Temporary Work (Skilled) Subclass 457 visa, Australia’s most commonly used work visa, allows skilled overseas workers to come to Australia to work for a sponsoring employer for up to four years. This visa program is uncapped and driven by employer demand to address skills shortages.

From smart phones, tablets, and connectivity platforms to wearable tech, the Internet of Things, and the Connected Home, technology continues to evolve the mobility experience for all stakeholders. All this connectivity also means that there are more data points on the entire relocation process than ever before.

Immigration and compliance is often overlooked; this could be due to an absence of immigration knowledge, confusion over country specific immigration laws, or the lack of reporting tools available. If handled incorrectly this can result in loss of contracts; damage to the company reputation, repatriation for deported assignees, heavy fines and in some cases imprisonment.

The following ten tips will help you save money while ensuring compliance.

Ramadan (the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar) will commence on June 18 and run through July 16, 2015. During Ramadan, customs authorities in many Muslim countries will work shorter hours and productivity will be impacted. This could cause some delays for your relocating employees.

Summer is in full swing and most college students have either graduated or are on summer break. For many companies, this means the beginning of a summer internship program. To support summer interns, some companies cover the intern’s travel expenses to and from the summer job location and/or housing expenses for the duration of the internship. Summer internship programs do not meet requirements to be classified as job interview, business or relocation expenses. Therefore, these reimbursements should be treated as income and reported on the intern’s W-2. Most companies provide tax gross-up to cover the intern’s tax liability.

Symposium’s Expatriate Management & Global Mobility Forum, will be taking place on Thursday 9th July 2015 at the Hilton Hotel, Canary Wharf, London. This symposium provides a unique opportunity for senior HR and global mobility professionals to discuss the challenges, solutions and trends influencing the success of their international assignments.

The Middle East has been experiencing extreme summer heat which means dangerous outdoor working conditions. Allied is taking action to keep our employees safe by extending the typical pack, load and move timeline for customers in the Middle East. Crews need additional time to complete moves, especially if abiding by the working ban between 12:30 pm to 3:00 pm from June 15 through September 15 that was imposed by several governments such as Bahrain, Qatar and United Arabs. We are committed to providing an exceptional moving experience and that begins by safeguarding our employees who conduct the moves.

May is National Moving Month and when selecting a moving arm for your mobility program make sure you work with a van line that maintains a ProMover designation by the American Moving & Storage Association (AMSA).

AMSA launched the ProMover program in January 2009 as a protection and certification program which is designed to fight imposters, known within the industry as “rogue operators,” by giving corporations and consumers an easy way to separate reputable, professional movers from con artists out to make a quick buck at their expense.

Whether you hold the opinion that Core, Flexi or Plus mobility policies are the right solution for a Talent Management retention programme , they can commonly be more cost effective for the business. Whether they are here for the long term or just a medium-term fix, they have become a prominent feature of many international mobility programmes today and we must embrace their practicality and purpose.